Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 12/22/2009

Question
QUESTION: is there a way on AI when i enter a font size say inches what a get is the bounding box inch not the text in corbel if i enter inch i get inches i have 2 computers with AI PC and a mac

ANSWER: Hi Mario,

In your preferences, you can change the units of measure for your text to inches. Either way, when you enter 2 inches as your size, your font will be 2 inches. Perhaps this font has a smaller character size, if that is the case, you will have to adjust manually.

Thanks

Kevin


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QUESTION: some how this is not working for us
it does not matter what font i use for example when I enter size of 2inches the font size is only 1.25inches high the bounding box on the other hand is 2inches keeping in mind that i do not change the font to outlines so just in case i can change the font type

ANSWER: Hi Mario,

Is this same issue happening on both computers?

I input Corbel at 2" (144 pt) and my bounding box does show up larger than the font itself, but it is 2.1153"  and my font is 144pt (2") The lower case letters and numbers are significantly smaller than the caps but that is the style of this font.

It is impossible to have this happening on every font you choose, including Myriad Pro (Adobe's Default font) on two separate systems. I can understand the issue happening with a single font such as corbel.  

I want to stress that you are entering the size in your font size when you have your text selected with the type tool, not with the selection tool and changing the W and H measurements. That is not the same.

If you are entering this in the font size on any font, and it is not working then shut down Illustrator. Then as soon as you reopen, hold Alt+Ctrl+Shift (PC) or Shift+Opt+Cmd/Apple on the mac and reset Illustrator. If the issue persists, please let me know.

Thanks

Kevin

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QUESTION: yest the same happens with Myriad Pro in all upper case letters
i still don't get the acutal font size  

Answer
Hi Mario,

You are getting the font size, but I think what you are looking at is the character and not the entire size of the font.

When you select your font using the font tool, you will see a black highlight representing the Ascender and Descender of that font family. That is what is two inches.

Your characters, say a Capital "A" will not be 2". In order to do this, you will need to scale the font manually after you have created this. Every font's ascender and descender is different so the scale will appear different but the overall height is 2" even if the character. Unfortunately, there is no way to set this up differently, its just how fonts work. The only way to change this is manually. It works the same way in all other apps as well.

Thanks

Kevin